Monday

 I'm not one of those who moan and cry over how much better it was in the old days. Oh, yes, it was great to be young and all that, but otherwise, I sure don't miss a lot of it...

Clearly, that's leading up to a "but," and here it is: But when it comes to handling your business and financial affairs, it sure as hell wasn't as frustrating as it is now. I spent the whole morning on 1. making an appointment with a new doctor, as my old one has left the practice; 2. contacting my homeowner's insurance company because after I got a notice my mortgage company hadn't paid it; 3. calling said mortgage company--Chase--to find it had been paid on July 30; 4. trying to add a credit option to the Access Van, which I had been told I could do on line, but no such thing; 5. calling Pacific Therapy for an appointment and every date with the p.t. I had seen before was not good for me (finally settled for her assistant on the ninth).

The rest of the day was immeasurably better. I met Noreen at Lure, one of my favorite restaurants, at 1:00 and we settled into a booth inside. I got sand dabs--delish--and a good draft beer, of course, she crab Louie and a glass of Chardonnay. We talked and talked openly and freely about a bunch of stuff, including her exes' habit of straying and my not always cheery thoughts about my childhood. It turned out she remembers when Mary's husband, Jim Monahan, was mayor; Noreen was born here and has lived here most of her life. When she worked, she was an R.N. at Community Hospital here.  She hasn't had the easiest life: her son died a few months ago and there have been other tragedies, but she has accepted them. (Aside from the fact that she has two Rottweilers, both over 120 pounds, she's pretty normal 😁.) Anyway, it was a good outing with a good person. 

After we parted, I stopped in a few places. Bought a blouse and yet another DVD. However, when I got home, I tackled the chore of putting together the ones I'll donate--there are about thirty and that's probably not all I'll get rid of.